Sharath Kamal is doing what he does best — move well, attack and finish with a flourish.
Ranked 62, Sharath upstaged World No. 24 Yuto Muramatsu with a display of flamboyance and domination.
Sharath won 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 14-16, 11-4 and entered the quarterfinals of the $150,000 ITTF World Tour India Open table tennis tournament here. For a place in the semifinals, Sharath faces England’s Paul Drinkhall, the sixth seed, whom he has beaten in their last three meetings.
Though Sanil Shetty lost after leading 2-1 against Austria’s Robert Gardos, seeded eight, and Harmeet Desai succumbed to the superiority of third-seeded Japanese Koki Niwa, it was a day when the Indians gave a good account of themselves.
Muramatsu, a defensive player known to retrieve endlessly by staying away from the table, could not get his way as Sharath kept the Japanese on the move and executed the finishing strokes with amazing accuracy.
The first three games proved one-sided after which, Sharath squandered four match-points in the fourth game to lose 14-16. But Sharath was back at his attacking best and won the fifth rather easily.
“I’m liking the way I’m moving. That’s the reason why I could finish the points against a defensive player like Muramatsu.”
The results (prefix denotes seeding): Men (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Ger) bt Joao Gerlado (Por) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4; 5-Yuya Oshima (Jpn) bt Masataka Morizono (Jpn) 11-5, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8; Jiang Tianyi (Hkg) bt 12-Ricardo Walther (Ger) 11-13, 7-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 14-12; 3-Koki Niwa (Jpn) bt Harmeet Desai 14-16, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9; 11-Sharath Kamal bt 4-Yuto Muramatsu (Jpn) 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 14-16, 11-4; 6-Paul Drinkhall (Eng) bt Ruwen Filus (Ger) 11-4, 16-14, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5; 8-Robert Gardos (Aut) bt Sanil Shetty 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7; 14-Tomokazu Harimoto (Jpn) bt Asuka Sakai (Jpn) 11-9, 11-7, 13-15, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7.
First round: Masataka bt G. Sathiyan 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8.
Women singles (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Doo Hoi Kem (Hkg) bt Mousumi Paul 11-2, 11-6, 11-6, 13-11; 5-Jiang Huajun (Hkg) bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 11-4, 11-3, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6; 7-Jieni Shao (Por) bt 15-Wang Yi Ju (Tpe) 10-12, 13-11, 17-15, 11-6, 11-5; 4-Matilda Ekholm (Swe) bt 13-Lin Po-Hsuan (Tpe) 11-3, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6; 3-Georgina Pota (Hun) bt 9-Soo Wai Yam Minnie (Hkg) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10; 8-Ng Wing Nam (Hkg) bt Mouma Das 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 15-13; 6-Sakura Mori (Jpn) bt Archana Kamath 11-3, 13-11, 5-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-4; 11-Mak Tze Wing (Hkg) bt 2-Lee Ho Ching (Hkg) 11-5, 11-4, 1-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
